Samajwadi Party releases list of 191 candidates; Shivpal Yadav gets ticket, Atique Ahmed dumped

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav released party's first list of 191 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. 

According to reports, Akhilesh's uncle Shivpal Yadav is the surprise inclusion in the list. Shivpal has been fielded from Jaswant Nagar constituency whereas mafia-turned-politician Atique Ahmed's name has been dumped.

The party has given ticket to Hassan Rumi Kanpur Cantt seat in place of Atique Ahmed. 

Senior leader Azam Khan will fight election from Rampur seat while Rajkumar Bhati has been given ticket from Dadri seat.

Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Agrawal's son Nitin Agrawal has been given ticket from Hardoi constituency while Azam Khan's son Abdullah Azam has been fielded from Suar (Rampur) seat. 

It is the first list after a bitter infighting between Akhilesh and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav over party symbol 'Bicycle'.

Samajwadi Party changes seat of 3 candidates in upcoming #UPElection2017 pic.twitter.com/lULojz9ayG

— News Nation (@NewsNationTV) January 20, 2017

The announcement by the ruling party came just three days after its indication of an alliance with the Congress.

However, the list could also spark a bitter round of negotiations between the two parties as the SP has fielded several candidates from seats won by the Congress. 

SP leader Kiranmoy Nanda said that his party may offer 54 seats to the Congress where it won or secured second spot in the previous assembly election. 

Nanda said that party's first preference is to defeat BJP adding that the alliance has not broken. 

The party is expected to release its election manifesto on Monday, he added.

(More details awaited)